Chapter IV — Cybersecurity risk-management measures and reporting obligations

Article 20 — Governance¶

1. Member States shall ensure that the management bodies of essential and important entities approve the cybersecurity risk-management measures taken by those entities in order to comply with Article 21, oversee its implementation and can be held liable for infringements by the entities of that Article.

   The application of this paragraph shall be without prejudice to national law as regards the liability rules applicable to public institutions, as well as the liability of public servants and elected or appointed officials.

2. Member States shall ensure that the members of the management bodies of essential and important entities are required to follow training, and shall encourage essential and important entities to offer similar training to their employees on a regular basis, in order that they gain sufficient knowledge and skills to enable them to identify risks and assess cybersecurity risk-management practices and their impact on the services provided by the entity.

Article 21 — Cybersecurity risk-management measures¶

1. Member States shall ensure that essential and important entities take appropriate and proportionate technical, operational and organisational measures to manage the risks posed to the security of network and information systems which those entities use for their operations or for the provision of their services, and to prevent or minimise the impact of incidents on recipients of their services and on other services.

   Taking into account the state-of-the-art and, where applicable, relevant European and international standards, as well as the cost of implementation, the measures referred to in the first subparagraph shall ensure a level of security of network and information systems appropriate to the risks posed. When assessing the proportionality of those measures, due account shall be taken of the degree of the entity’s exposure to risks, the entity’s size and the likelihood of occurrence of incidents and their severity, including their societal and economic impact.

2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be based on an all-hazards approach that aims to protect network and information systems and the physical environment of those systems from incidents, and shall include at least the following:

   (a) policies on risk analysis and information system security;

   (b) incident handling;

   (c) business continuity, such as backup management and disaster recovery, and crisis management;

   (d) supply chain security, including security-related aspects concerning the relationships between each entity and its direct suppliers or service providers;

   (e) security in network and information systems acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling and disclosure;

   (f) policies and procedures to assess the effectiveness of cybersecurity risk-management measures;

   (g) basic cyber hygiene practices and cybersecurity training;

   (h) policies and procedures regarding the use of cryptography and, where appropriate, encryption;

   (i) human resources security, access control policies and asset management;

   (j) the use of multi-factor authentication or continuous authentication solutions, secured voice, video and text communications and secured emergency communication systems within the entity, where appropriate.

3. Member States shall ensure that, when considering which measures referred to in paragraph 2, point (d), of this Article are appropriate, entities take into account the vulnerabilities specific to each direct supplier and service provider and the overall quality of products and cybersecurity practices of their suppliers and service providers, including their secure development procedures. Member States shall also ensure that, when considering which measures referred to in that point are appropriate, entities are required to take into account the results of the coordinated security risk assessments of critical supply chains carried out in accordance with Article 22(1).

4. Member States shall ensure that an entity that finds that it does not comply with the measures provided for in paragraph 2 takes, without undue delay, all necessary, appropriate and proportionate corrective measures.

5. By 17 October 2024, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the technical and the methodological requirements of the measures referred to in paragraph 2 with regard to DNS service providers, TLD name registries, cloud computing service providers, data centre service providers, content delivery network providers, managed service providers, managed security service providers, providers of online market places, of online search engines and of social networking services platforms, and trust service providers.

   The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down the technical and the methodological requirements, as well as sectoral requirements, as necessary, of the measures referred to in paragraph 2 with regard to essential and important entities other than those referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

   When preparing the implementing acts referred to in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph, the Commission shall, to the extent possible, follow European and international standards, as well as relevant technical specifications. The Commission shall exchange advice and cooperate with the Cooperation Group and ENISA on the draft implementing acts in accordance with Article 14(4), point (e).

   Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 39(2).

Article 22 — Union level coordinated security risk assessments of critical supply chains¶

1. The Cooperation Group, in cooperation with the Commission and ENISA, may carry out coordinated security risk assessments of specific critical ICT services, ICT systems or ICT products supply chains, taking into account technical and, where relevant, non-technical risk factors.

2. The Commission, after consulting the Cooperation Group and ENISA, and, where necessary, relevant stakeholders, shall identify the specific critical ICT services, ICT systems or ICT products that may be subject to the coordinated security risk assessment referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 23 — Reporting obligations¶

1. Each Member State shall ensure that essential and important entities notify, without undue delay, its CSIRT or, where applicable, its competent authority in accordance with paragraph 4 of any incident that has a significant impact on the provision of their services as referred to in paragraph 3 (significant incident). Where appropriate, entities concerned shall notify, without undue delay, the recipients of their services of significant incidents that are likely to adversely affect the provision of those services. Each Member State shall ensure that those entities report, inter alia, any information enabling the CSIRT or, where applicable, the competent authority to determine any cross-border impact of the incident. The mere act of notification shall not subject the notifying entity to increased liability.

   Where the entities concerned notify the competent authority of a significant incident under the first subparagraph, the Member State shall ensure that that competent authority forwards the notification to the CSIRT upon receipt.

   In the case of a cross-border or cross-sectoral significant incident, Member States shall ensure that their single points of contact are provided in due time with relevant information notified in accordance with paragraph 4.

2. Where applicable, Member States shall ensure that essential and important entities communicate, without undue delay, to the recipients of their services that are potentially affected by a significant cyber threat any measures or remedies that those recipients are able to take in response to that threat. Where appropriate, the entities shall also inform those recipients of the significant cyber threat itself.

3. An incident shall be considered to be significant if:

   (a) it has caused or is capable of causing severe operational disruption of the services or financial loss for the entity concerned;

   (b) it has affected or is capable of affecting other natural or legal persons by causing considerable material or non-material damage.

4. Member States shall ensure that, for the purpose of notification under paragraph 1, the entities concerned submit to the CSIRT or, where applicable, the competent authority:

   (a) without undue delay and in any event within 24 hours of becoming aware of the significant incident, an early warning, which, where applicable, shall indicate whether the significant incident is suspected of being caused by unlawful or malicious acts or could have a cross-border impact;

   (b) without undue delay and in any event within 72 hours of becoming aware of the significant incident, an incident notification, which, where applicable, shall update the information referred to in point (a) and indicate an initial assessment of the significant incident, including its severity and impact, as well as, where available, the indicators of compromise;

   (c) upon the request of a CSIRT or, where applicable, the competent authority, an intermediate report on relevant status updates;

   (d) a final report not later than one month after the submission of the incident notification under point (b), including the following:

   (i) a detailed description of the incident, including its severity and impact;

   (ii) the type of threat or root cause that is likely to have triggered the incident;

   (iii) applied and ongoing mitigation measures;

   (iv) where applicable, the cross-border impact of the incident;

   (e) in the event of an ongoing incident at the time of the submission of the final report referred to in point (d), Member States shall ensure that entities concerned provide a progress report at that time and a final report within one month of their handling of the incident.

   By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, point (b), a trust service provider shall, with regard to significant incidents that have an impact on the provision of its trust services, notify the CSIRT or, where applicable, the competent authority, without undue delay and in any event within 24 hours of becoming aware of the significant incident.

5. The CSIRT or the competent authority shall provide, without undue delay and where possible within 24 hours of receiving the early warning referred to in paragraph 4, point (a), a response to the notifying entity, including initial feedback on the significant incident and, upon request of the entity, guidance or operational advice on the implementation of possible mitigation measures. Where the CSIRT is not the initial recipient of the notification referred to in paragraph 1, the guidance shall be provided by the competent authority in cooperation with the CSIRT. The CSIRT shall provide additional technical support if the entity concerned so requests. Where the significant incident is suspected to be of criminal nature, the CSIRT or the competent authority shall also provide guidance on reporting the significant incident to law enforcement authorities.

6. Where appropriate, and in particular where the significant incident concerns two or more Member States, the CSIRT, the competent authority or the single point of contact shall inform, without undue delay, the other affected Member States and ENISA of the significant incident. Such information shall include the type of information received in accordance with paragraph 4. In so doing, the CSIRT, the competent authority or the single point of contact shall, in accordance with Union or national law, preserve the entity’s security and commercial interests as well as the confidentiality of the information provided.

7. Where public awareness is necessary to prevent a significant incident or to deal with an ongoing significant incident, or where disclosure of the significant incident is otherwise in the public interest, a Member State’s CSIRT or, where applicable, its competent authority, and, where appropriate, the CSIRTs or the competent authorities of other Member States concerned, may, after consulting the entity concerned, inform the public about the significant incident or require the entity to do so.

8. At the request of the CSIRT or the competent authority, the single point of contact shall forward notifications received pursuant to paragraph 1 to the single points of contact of other affected Member States.

9. The single point of contact shall submit to ENISA every three months a summary report, including anonymised and aggregated data on significant incidents, incidents, cyber threats and near misses notified in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article and with Article 30. In order to contribute to the provision of comparable information, ENISA may adopt technical guidance on the parameters of the information to be included in the summary report. ENISA shall inform the Cooperation Group and the CSIRTs network about its findings on notifications received every six months.

10. The CSIRTs or, where applicable, the competent authorities shall provide to the competent authorities under Directive (EU) 2022/2557 information about significant incidents, incidents, cyber threats and near misses notified in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article and with Article 30 by entities identified as critical entities under Directive (EU) 2022/2557.

11. The Commission may adopt implementing acts further specifying the type of information, the format and the procedure of a notification submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article 30 and of a communication submitted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article.

    By 17 October 2024, the Commission shall, with regard to DNS service providers, TLD name registries, cloud computing service providers, data centre service providers, content delivery network providers, managed service providers, managed security service providers, as well as providers of online marketplaces, of online search engines and of social networking services platforms, adopt implementing acts further specifying the cases in which an incident shall be considered to be significant as referred to in paragraph 3. The Commission may adopt such implementing acts with regard to other essential and important entities.

    The Commission shall exchange advice and cooperate with the Cooperation Group on the draft implementing acts referred to in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph in accordance with Article 14(4), point (e).

    Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 39(2).

Article 24 — Use of European cybersecurity certification schemes¶

1. In order to demonstrate compliance with particular requirements of Article 21, Member States may require essential and important entities to use particular ICT products, ICT services and ICT processes, developed by the essential or important entity or procured from third parties, that are certified under European cybersecurity certification schemes adopted pursuant to Article 49 of Regulation (EU) 2019/881. Furthermore, Member States shall encourage essential and important entities to use qualified trust services.

2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 38, to supplement this Directive by specifying which categories of essential and important entities are to be required to use certain certified ICT products, ICT services and ICT processes or obtain a certificate under a European cybersecurity certification scheme adopted pursuant to Article 49 of Regulation (EU) 2019/881. Those delegated acts shall be adopted where insufficient levels of cybersecurity have been identified and shall include an implementation period.

   Before adopting such delegated acts, the Commission shall carry out an impact assessment and shall carry out consultations in accordance with Article 56 of Regulation (EU) 2019/881.

3. Where no appropriate European cybersecurity certification scheme for the purposes of paragraph 2 of this Article is available, the Commission may, after consulting the Cooperation Group and the European Cybersecurity Certification Group, request ENISA to prepare a candidate scheme pursuant to Article 48(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/881.

Article 25 — Standardisation¶

1. In order to promote the convergent implementation of Article 21(1) and (2), Member States shall, without imposing or discriminating in favour of the use of a particular type of technology, encourage the use of European and international standards and technical specifications relevant to the security of network and information systems.

2. ENISA, in cooperation with Member States, and, where appropriate, after consulting relevant stakeholders, shall draw up advice and guidelines regarding the technical areas to be considered in relation to paragraph 1 as well as regarding already existing standards, including national standards, which would allow for those areas to be covered.